The top 5 things CPAs really love and really hate about their jobs -- and what it means for management.
by Rick Telberg
Career Insider
What do you like best about your job? If you're like most CPAs, you find satisfaction in the intellectual challenge of the work.
So go ahead and love your job. Just remember, your job won't love you back.
For CPAs, your biggest challenge may be balancing your love of your work and the rest of your life. For accounting managers, the management challenges are as stark: Let your people love their work, but don't take advantage of it.
"I do love what I do," according to Yvette Beaudin, a CPA/CVA from El Paso, Texas, who works in a small CPA firm. She says she enjoys continuously challenging herself as she learns new things.
Or, listen to another happily employed CPA, a middle manager in a mid-sized CPA firm: "Because my boss creates a good work environment and shows his appreciation to staff for work well done, it creates a good work environment, even though the stress of tax season is still hard."
On the other hand, some CPAs feel so overwhelmed they may be ready to throw in the towel.
"I enjoy my job overall," said one CPA firm partner. "But, with the continuous onslaught of tax and accounting standards, I am getting more pessimistic. It is extremely difficult to keep up when you are a small firm with fewer than five professionals."
A middle manger in a mid-sized says he's fed up. "Because of '404' and Sarbanes-Oxley, I will be retiring as soon as I can. The regulatory aspects of that and the shortened deadlines have taken all the fun out of it."
Fun or not, my study of over 400 CPAs pinpoints the pain points that every CPA firm or finance director must manage to.
Overall, CPAs say the "best" parts of their job are, in order:
1. Interesting work
2. Flexible hours
3. Friendships with their colleagues
4. Good pay
5. The feeling of really getting something done
The "worst":
1. Work overload
2. Not enough pay
3. Not enough recognition
4. Lack of respect for accounting standards or ethics
5. Cranky clients
Furthermore, the difference between job-satisfaction ratings in public accounting vs. business-and-industry can be informative. For instance: Business-and-industry CPAs like their bosses more often than CPAs in public practice, by a ratio of 51 percent to 37 percent. But CPAs in public accountancy are happier with their "flexible" hours, opportunities for advancement and the feeling of really getting something done.
Of course, you can always become a sole proprietor, but even that doesn't necessarily give you full control. As one said: "I'm self-employed. My wife is my boss."
